Paul Marie Alfred Lebeau (19 December 1868 – 18 November 1959) was a French chemist. He studied at the elite
(ESPCI).
ESPCI ParisTech Alumni 1888
/ref> Together with his doctoral advisor Henri Moissan
Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds. Moissan was one of the original mem ...
he was working on fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
chemistry discovering several new compounds, like bromine trifluoride
Bromine trifluoride is an interhalogen compound with the formula BrF3. At room temperature, it is a straw-coloured liquid with a pungent odor which decomposes violently on contact with water and organic compounds. It is a powerful fluorinating a ...
, oxygen difluoride
Oxygen difluoride is a chemical compound with the formula . As predicted by VSEPR theory, the molecule adopts a "bent" molecular geometry. It is strong oxidizer and has attracted attention in rocketry for this reason. With a boiling point of -144.7 ...
, selenium tetrafluoride
Selenium tetrafluoride (Selenium, SeFluorine, F4) is an inorganic compound. It is a colourless liquid that reacts readily with water. It can be used as a fluorinating reagent in organic syntheses (fluorination of alcohols, carboxylic acids or carb ...
and sulfur hexafluoride
Sulfur hexafluoride or sulphur hexafluoride (British spelling) is an inorganic compound with the formula SF6. It is a colorless, odorless, non- flammable, and non-toxic gas. has an octahedral geometry, consisting of six fluorine atoms attached ...
.
In 1899 he was able to obtain pure beryllium
Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...
by electrolysis sodium fluoroberyllate (Na2 eF2.
In World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he improved the gas mask design used by the French army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
.
References
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1868 births
1959 deaths
20th-century French chemists
ESPCI Paris alumni
Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
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